Luigi Nicholas Mangione, the suspect within the deadly capturing of a healthcare govt in New York Metropolis, apparently was residing a charmed life: the grandson of a rich actual property developer, valedictorian of his elite Baltimore prep faculty and with levels from one of many nation’s prime personal universities.
Pals at an unique co-living area on the fringe of touristy Waikiki in Hawaii the place the 26-year-old Mangione as soon as lived broadly thought of him a “nice man,” and footage on his social media accounts present a match, smiling, good-looking younger man on seashores and at events.
Now, investigators in New York and Pennsylvania are working to piece collectively why Mangione might have diverged from this path to make the violent and radical determination to gun down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in a brazen assault on a Manhattan avenue.
The killing sparked widespread discussions about company greed, unfairness within the medical insurance coverage trade and even impressed folk-hero sentiment towards his killer.
However Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro sharply refuted that notion after Mangione’s arrest on Monday when a buyer at a McDonald’s restaurant in Pennsylvania noticed Mangione consuming and seen he resembled the capturing suspect in security-camera pictures launched by New York police.
“In some darkish corners, this killer is being hailed as a hero. Hear me on this, he’s no hero,” Shapiro mentioned. “The true hero on this story is the one who known as 911 at McDonald’s this morning.”
Mangione’s household and upbringing
Mangione comes from a outstanding Maryland household. His grandfather, Nick Mangione, who died in 2008, was a profitable actual property developer. Considered one of his best-known tasks was Turf Valley Resort, a sprawling luxurious retreat and convention heart outdoors Baltimore that he bought in 1978.
The Mangione household additionally bought Hayfields Nation Membership north of Baltimore in 1986. On Monday, Baltimore County cops blocked off an entrance to the property, which public information hyperlink to Luigi Mangione’s dad and mom. Reporters and photographers gathered outdoors the doorway.
The daddy of 10 kids, Nick Mangione ready his 5 sons — together with Luigi Mangione’s father, Louis Mangione — to assist handle the household enterprise, in line with a 2003 Washington Submit report. Nick Mangione had 37 grandchildren, together with Luigi, in line with the grandfather’s obituary.
Luigi Mangione’s grandparents donated to charities by the Mangione Household Basis, in line with an announcement from Loyola College commemorating Nick Mangione’s spouse’s demise in 2023. They donated to numerous causes, together with Catholic organizations, faculties and the humanities.
Considered one of Luigi Mangione’s cousins is Republican Maryland state legislator Nino Mangione, a spokesman for the lawmaker’s workplace confirmed.
“Our household is shocked and devastated by Luigi’s arrest,” Mangione’s household mentioned in an announcement posted on social media by Nino Mangione. “We provide our prayers to the household of Brian Thompson and we ask folks to wish for all concerned.”
Mangione’s training and work historical past
Mangione, who was valedictorian of his elite Maryland prep faculty, earned undergraduate and graduate levels in pc science in 2020 from the College of Pennsylvania, a college spokesman advised The Related Press.
He discovered to code in highschool and helped begin a membership at Penn for folks concerned with gaming and recreation design, in line with a 2018 story in Penn Immediately, a campus publication.
His social media posts recommend he belonged to the fraternity Phi Kappa Psi. Additionally they present him collaborating in a 2019 program at Stanford College, and in pictures with household and associates on the Jersey Shore and in Hawaii, San Diego, Puerto Rico, and different locations.
The Gilman Faculty, from which Mangione graduated in 2016, is certainly one of Baltimore’s elite prep faculties. The youngsters of a few of the metropolis’s wealthiest and most outstanding residents, together with Orioles legend Cal Ripken Jr., have attended the varsity. Its alumni embody sportswriter Frank Deford and former Arizona Gov. Fife Symington.
In his valedictory speech, Luigi Mangione described his classmates’ “unimaginable braveness to discover the unknown and check out new issues.”
Mangione took a software program programming internship after highschool at Maryland-based online game studio Firaxis, the place he fastened bugs on the hit technique recreation Civilization 6, in line with a LinkedIn profile. Firaxis’ mum or dad firm, Take-Two Interactive, mentioned it will not touch upon former staff.
He extra not too long ago labored on the car-buying web site TrueCar, however has not labored there since 2023, the pinnacle of the Santa Monica, California-based firm confirmed to the AP.
Time in Hawaii and stories of again ache
From January to June 2022, Mangione lived at Surfbreak, a “co-living” area on the fringe of touristy Waikiki in Honolulu.
Like different residents of the shared penthouse catering to distant employees, Mangione underwent a background test, mentioned Josiah Ryan, a spokesperson for proprietor and founder R.J. Martin.
“Luigi was simply broadly thought of to be an amazing man. There have been no complaints,” Ryan mentioned. “There was no signal that may level to those alleged crimes they’re saying he dedicated.”
At Surfbreak, Martin discovered Mangione had extreme again ache from childhood that interfered with many facets of his life, together with browsing, Ryan mentioned.
“He went browsing with R.J. as soon as however it didn’t work out due to his again,” Ryan mentioned, however famous that Mangione and Martin typically went collectively to a rock-climbing fitness center.
Mangione left Surfbreak to get surgical procedure on the mainland, Ryan mentioned, then later returned to Honolulu and rented an condo. A picture posted to a social media account linked to Mangione confirmed what gave the impression to be an X-ray of a steel rod and a number of screws inserted into somebody’s decrease backbone.
Martin stopped listening to from Mangione six months to a 12 months in the past.
An X account linked to Mangione consists of current posts concerning the damaging impression of smartphones on kids; wholesome consuming and train habits; psychological theories; and a quote from Indian thinker Jiddu Krishnamurti concerning the risks of changing into “well-adjusted to a profoundly sick society.”
Police report a darker flip
Mangione doubtless was motivated by his anger at what he known as “parasitic” medical health insurance corporations and a disdain for company greed, in line with a legislation enforcement bulletin obtained by AP.
He wrote that the U.S. has the costliest healthcare system on the planet and that the income of main companies proceed to rise whereas “our life expectancy” doesn’t, in line with the bulletin, primarily based on a evaluation of the suspect’s handwritten notes and social media posts.
He appeared to view the focused killing of the UnitedHealthcare CEO as a symbolic takedown, asserting in his notice that he’s the “first to face it with such brutal honesty,” the bulletin mentioned.
Mangione known as “Unabomber” Ted Kaczynski a “political revolutionary” and will have discovered inspiration from the person who carried out a collection of bombings whereas railing towards fashionable society and expertise, the doc mentioned.
Related Press reporters Lea Skene in Baltimore; Jennifer Sinco Kelleher in Honolulu; Maryclaire Dale in Philadelphia; John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio; and Michael Kunzelman in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.